


Reading Troubles

by PresidentGuppy



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Bon can be an asshole sometimes, M/M, Sometimes he makes up for it though, beginnings of love, exwire days, this is not an accurate depiction of dyslexia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 16:58:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2780765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PresidentGuppy/pseuds/PresidentGuppy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin Okumura was probably the most aggravating person Ryuji had ever met, because it's not for the first time during class does Rin point blank refuse to read.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reading Troubles

**Author's Note:**

> This is not an accurate portrayal of Dyslexia, but we can pretend. We can say Rin's demon eyes just hate the written language of Assiah--that's fine too. There is, however, special fonts like ones discussed below!

Rin Okumura was probably the most aggravating person Ryuji had ever met, because it's not for the first time during class does Rin point blank _refuse to read_.

 

"Mr. Okumura, you can either _read_ the passage or _leave_ the classroom," Their latest substitute teacher said irritably, looking down on her student with a critical eye.

 

Rin, who had been squinting at his book for close to half an hour, mutters something under his breath.

 

“ _What_ was that, Mr. Okumura?” The thinly veiled threat in her reedy voice sends a chill across the room.

 

"Fine!" He violently slams the book on his desk, standing. His chair makes a metallic screech as he forces it back, echoing in the shocked silence of the classroom. With a final glare he storms out of the room, shoulders hunched and hands shoved deep in his pockets.

 

_He looks like a thug_ , Ryuji thinks irritably, head propped up on one hand. Everything about Rin seemed to piss him off lately--from his blatant lack of manners to his refusal to cooperate. He'd never seen the other use a book for its intended use, choosing instead to use them as props or as temporary pillows for him to use in class.

 

Even during tests, Rin didn't muster up much of an effort. Glancing over at Rin proves his suspicions right every time; Rin is either sleeping or scribbling random words and letters all over the page as if he were playing connect the dots.

 

Questioning Yukio gets him no new answers.

 

"He's lazy and can't handle authority," the younger Okumura intones, as if he were reading a concerned elementary teacher's note sent home. He shuffles the test papers in his hands properly before putting them in his briefcase. "I'm sorry you're angry, but he's always been this way."

 

"No offense, but how did he even get _accepted_ here?"

 

The briefcase shuts with a final click. Yukio stares at him, expression blank, and Ryuji gets the feeling that he may have crossed some sort of line.

 

"No offense," Yukio smiles, radiating displeasure, "but that is _none of your business_."

 

Ryuji is left kicking himself for even asking.

 

Tuesday is the very same; despite the fact that he's seated in the front of _every class he takes_ , Rin sleeps on his books instead of reading them. Ryuji wouldn't be surprised if they're illegible from smeared drool on the inside.

 

Ryuji wants to kick _him_.

 

Instead he settles for chucking paper at him when their teacher isn't looking, random notes that all say the same thing-- _what the hell is wrong with you_.

 

When Konekomaru tries to stop him, he sends more with increased frequency, his determination doubled.

 

Rin gets none of these, of course. He's too far gone already, sleeping so deeply he'd be surprised if Rin managed to hear the bell ring.  At this point their teacher has accepted his noncompliance as the norm and soldiers on, talking over Rin's brief snores.

 

"What the hell is his _problem_?!" Ryuji howls later that day, seated outside with Konekomaru and Shima. He chucks his book to the ground in disgust, feeling a growing migraine. Rin was past the point of ridiculousness; how he managed to still be enrolled in school was beyond him.

 

“Maybe he’s just really, _really_ tired,” Shima suggests around his sandwich, spraying bits of lettuce at his own book. “Y’know...from being a _delinquent_.”

 

“Ridiculous,” Ryuji huffs, trying to soothe his headache. He had to stop thinking about it; he had his own studies to worry about. This next test could make or break his straight A status--

 

“He probably just doesn’t like reading.” Konekomaru pipes up, absently plucking grass and shredding them.

 

“God _damn_ it!”

 

\--

 

When Rin was little, he loved to listen to his old man read.

 

Shiro read with such ease and familiarity--as if he knew each word personally. His tone was warm and soothing to hear.

 

When Rin was expelled from elementary school, Shiro took it upon himself to teach Rin personally. He was excited--maybe he could read like Shiro.

 

“Alright, let’s try again. Sound it out--it’s alright, take your time.”

 

Rin tries to follow the letters. They wiggled impatiently under Shiro’s guiding finger before slipping away to join the others on the line above. The ‘A’ mixed with the ‘D’ while the ‘N’ swam over to the other page entirely. Rin can’t remember which one came first.

 

Shiro watches him carefully, notes where his eyes go and the growing distress on his face.

 

“Ah,” Shiro says, understanding in an instant. He dramatically tilts the book this way and that. “You know what? This is a _terrible_ story.”

 

Confused, Rin watches as the priest saunters over to the bookcase in the corner, coming back with a new one.

 

“ _This_ is a better one.” He says, flipping open to the first page as he sits down again.

 

Rin scoots closer to see, ducking under his father’s arm to warily watch the letters.

 

They waver, as if confused, before deciding to stay right where they are.

 

Rin reads perfectly well after that. The days go by at a snails pace but he doesn’t mind, not when Shiro is there to help him. He leans on his father and reads the afternoons away, absently listening to the click of Shiro’s rosary.

 

When Rin has to go back to school he vehemently denies it.

 

“I don’t _wanna_!” The newly christened fifth grader beats his fist on the pew.

 

The family meeting had just started and already it was going downhill; not only did Rin have to go back to school, but Yukio _wasn’t coming with him_.

 

Yukio was special. He was smart and didn’t get into fights like Rin did, so he gets to go to a special school for special kids who definitely _weren’t_ Rin.

 

“You have to,” Shiro ploughed on determinedly, voice stern. “I can’t teach you everything the school can.”

 

“You’ll be okay, Rin,” Yukio attempts to pacify him, his small voice barely heard over the din his brother was making. “Really! You’ll do great!”

 

Despite Rin’s protests the new school year starts. He’s dropped off at the front gates with vague directions and a teacher who smiled too much.

 

The first kid to say “Hi!” to him gets a fist to the face, and he has to spend the rest of the day in the principal's office because Shiro was busy on the other side of town and couldn’t be reached. Rin spends the time scratching holes in the upholstery of his chair and sneering at the old man behind the desk, oozing rebellion.

 

The rest of the year is the same. He becomes familiar with the principal’s office and detention classrooms. He can’t read their books. He can’t sit still.

 

_He’s lazy and disrespects authority_.

 

Years after that he skips class with an alarming frequency. He sleeps through lectures and draws on his tests, firmly ignoring the swimming letters. Teachers pass him only to get rid of him.

 

He hates school.

 

He hates books.

 

He hates reading.

 

\--

 

Ryuji’s days used to be fairly normal. He would go to school every day and study every afternoon, usually accompanied by Shima and Konekomaru.

 

His mind didn’t used to be occupied by thoughts of _what the hell is that idiot doing_ , but it is now and he couldn’t stop. All his thoughts revolved about Rin, and now he couldn't study for the life of him.

 

“You okay there, Bon?” Shima reaches a long arm over his desk to prod Ryuji’s fist. In it was his crumpled test--a solid 83 percent. He’d never been so embarrassed and horrified in his entire schooling career.

 

Rin had, per usual, failed. Yukio had given him a zero. _Plus_ a detention for a crude drawing of Rin stealing his glasses.

 

“ _You_ ,” Ryuji seethed.  

 

Rin, who was busy folding his test into a paper airplane, took no notice.

 

Ryuji couldn't believe it. He hadn't gotten an 83 since elementary school--he was always on top of his class. Rin was...

 

Yukio dismisses the class after giving Shiemi her test--an 84.

 

Ryuji wants to break a table. Next to Rin, he had the lowest grade in the class.

 

"Okumura!" Catching up to Rin as he escapes from class isn't easy. The younger catapults from the room and rushes out the door so fast it’s a miracle he doesn't manage to hit anyone.

 

Once he's outdoors he slows down enough for Ryuji to catch up.

 

"Oh, hey, Bon!" Rin shouldn't look so happy to see the seething rage that was Ryuji, but he had a feeling Rin really _was_ that oblivious.

 

"Don't call me that!" Ryuji snapped. "We are _not_ friends."

 

Rin pretends not to hear him. “What’s up?”

 

“You’re distracting me!” Ryuji blurts, waving his test in the other’s face. “I can’t concentrate on learning this shit if you keep fucking around! What the hell is your problem, anyway? Do you think it’s _cool_ to dick around? You think you’re too good to read a goddamn book every once in awhile? You can’t just rely on you sword all the time!”

 

During his rant, he watches as Rin shrinks back in alarm, his expression morphing from shock to confusion to outright indignation.

 

“You don’t think I know that?” Rin snaps back at him.

 

“Then why won’t you just _read_?”

 

Rin’s mouth shuts with an audible click. He mumbles something, shoving his hands deep in his pockets and hunching his shoulders.

 

“What?”

 

“I said I’m _stupid_.”

 

Ryuji is momentarily taken aback before his anger returns full force.

 

“That’s no excuse,” he could already feel a migraine pulsing between his eyes; “You could do it if you actually _tried_ \--!”

 

Rin lets out a snarl so guttural that Ryuji is shocked into silence.

 

“It’s not my fault the damn letters won’t _stay still_.”

 

Ryuji blinks. Opens his mouth but no sound comes out. Could he-?

 

“Fuck you, Bon.” Rin storms off, managing to scare several children and freshman on his way.

\--

 

Beating down Rin's door the next afternoon probably wasn't the best way to get his attention, but Ryuji didn't have the patience for any other way. He waits a solid minute before starting again, because he _knew_ that was Rin peering down at him from the third floor window just above.

 

"Open up Okumura!" His arms are getting tired--in another minute he'll kick down the door, he _swears_ it.

 

The door gives as Rin finally, exasperated and annoyed, swings it open. " _What_."

 

"I'm coming in," Ryuji declares loudly, shouldering past the other. "Where is your room?"

 

Bemused, Rin points to the stairwell, following his classmates retreating form after a moment of wondering what the hell was going on.

 

Upon arriving in Rin and Yukio's shared room, Bon upturns his bag on what he assumes to be Rin's bed. (Yukio's side of the room is impossibly clean; Rin's was as much of a disaster as his grade card probably was.)

 

"You're going to _read_." He holds up a copy of their class textbook on demonary executions in one hand, making sure to grab Rin's arm so he doesn't escape with the other.

 

" _Fuck_ no," Rin says with feeling, and yeah, he can get behind that, but it's going to be better this time around.

 

Ryuji flips the book open and holds it our for Rin to see. " _Are the words moving_?"

 

Rin cringes at it.

 

"Really _look_ at it." His voice is firm, unrelenting, and he obeys unhappily.

 

Rin pauses. Blinks rapidly, mouth slightly agape. "They're....not?"

 

Ryuji relaxes his death grip on Rin's arm, letting the other take the proffered tome. "It's a special font that 'weighs down' the words." He frowns, a line forming between his brows. "Why didn't you order your books like this in the first place?"

 

"Didn't know," Rin flips through the pages rapidly, examining line after line of text with a growing sense of excitement. "Didn't order them, either."

 

"Your brother doesn't know?"

 

Rin pauses long enough to give him a puzzled look. "Know what?"

 

Ryuji has to count to ten before he can answer, his fury is so great. "That you have _dyslexia_."

 

"Dis....?"

 

"Oh my god," Ryuji runs a distracted hand through his hair, vaguely wondering how long Rin had struggled without help.  "How. _How_ did you not know, after all this time."

 

"I don't know," Rin snaps the book shut, his voice defensive. "I just stayed in the church all the time!"

 

"Didn't your-?"

 

" _No_." For a brief moment, pain lances across Rin's face, and Ryuji feels guilty for even bring it up. He'd never heard Rin or Yukio talk of their family--could it be that they had none?

 

Ryuji sighs, fixing his hair. He wonders when the hell he had the misfortune to start _liking_ this idiot. "Tell your brother."

 

"...Tell me _what_ , exactly?"

 

They both startle and leap away from each other, despite the pointlessness of the gesture.

 

Yukio, standing almost casually in the doorway, eyes his brother before turning his cold gaze to Ryuji. " _Well_?"

 

For a man the same age as him, Yukio was _utterly terrifying_ when he wanted to be.

 

"I have _dislexeema_." Rin squints. "Disexial. _Dis_ \--"

 

"Dyslexia." Ryuji mumbles faintly, shrinking under the younger brother's piercing gaze.

 

"Yeah, that." Rin noses his way through the textbook delightedly.

 

Yukio watches his brother for a moment, gaze softening into something almost _fond_ , before turning back to Ryuji.

 

"I see." He inclines his head in acknowledgement. "Thank you."

 

"No problem," Ryuji _definitely_ doesn't squeak, working the words past the terror that had seized his throat. "Anytime."

 

He relaxes when Yukio goes over to examine Rin's new books, pointing out interesting things in the text and helping him when he stumbles over pronunciation.

 

When Ryuji starts inching towards the door, Yukio decides to invite him to stay for dinner.

 

The hungry, almost _feral_ glint in his eye makes Ryuji's stomach churn, so he politely declines and escapes while he's still ahead, wondering when it was he stepped over Yukio's boundaries.

 

_Brothers_ , he thinks tiredly, casting a wary glance at the dorm he leaves behind.

 

He thinks the same the next morning when Yukio hands him back his essay with a few comments on his form which he suspected strongly of sarcasm.

 

A nice change, though, is Rin with his nose in one of the books Ryuji had left him.

  
When he glances back at Ryuji, there’s a shy smile just for him, and that makes him feel just a little bit better.


End file.
